


I didn’t know that’s how you felt

by Knoably



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, It’s a SLOW BURN my dudes, M/M, NB Pidge, Nm there’s definitely swearing, PINING KEITH, They’re idiots, assume everyone else is queer too, pining lance, swearing kinda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25476667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Knoably/pseuds/Knoably
Summary: Lance and Keith are pining idiots that don’t talk to each other. Allura sends them on a mission to get a serum that will supposedly help them bond. It shows what everyone’s emotions are at all times and reveals more of Lance and Keith’s feelings to each other
Relationships: Keith/Lance
Comments: 16
Kudos: 51





	1. He has it bad

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so I would appreciate any comments that people have on this ;)  
> I was annoyed this didn’t exist so I wrote it

Lance groaned as he stumbled to pull on his socks.

What mission was so important that it meant he had to wake up at 6 am? Or the space equivalent of 6 am. It was always dark in space.

Hearing Allura’s voice sound so peppy so early in the morning didn’t do anything to brighten his mood. The others clearly felt the same way, when he walked into the control deck everyone but Shiro and Allura had a scowl on their face.

“Lance you’re finally here! Excellent, now i can tell you about an exciting mission I have for you!” 

Allura was gorgeous, but sometimes her positivity was overbearing.

“I’m hoping this will be a good bonding exercise for all of you. I think some of you could greatly benefit from it” at that everyone glanced over in Lance and Keith’s direction. Lance looked down at the floor while Keith stayed staring resolutely forward with his arms crossed. Allura continued to speak but Lance was lost in looking at Keith.  
His eyebrows were furrowed together and he was biting his lip slightly.

‘Cute’ Lance thought. ‘Wait. No! Lance now is not the time to indulge in your raging crush on a certain mullet.

Lance snapped himself out of his reverie fast enough to hear the end of Allura’s spiel.

“-and the serum will have some interesting effects!” She grinned wickedly, “but you’ll just have to wait and see what those are” she winked at the paladins.

She must have been catching up on human gestures and mannerisms. 

But wait what was that about a serum..?  
Lance tried to piece together what he had heard in his head but he’d obviously not been listening. Goddamnit Keith.

“ why is it we have to do this now?” Pidge groaned. They pulled the wide neck of their T-shirt over their head in an attempt to block out the harsh lights.

“ C’mon Pidge, bright and early is the best time for anything!” Replied Shiro, ever the enthusiastic space-dad. That just made Pidge groan louder.

“And it would be about mid-day for the people of Mothucan anyway. They are quite the friendly and hospitable people. Their adeptness and advancements with technology mean their alliance will be treasured” Allura explained 

“ I suggest you only bring two of the lions as Voltron is hardly necessary on such a peaceful planet”

“who would like to ride in which lio-”

Lance’s ears perked up. Oh no, he was not getting stuck with this again

“ I CALL DIBS ON HUNK”. With that Lance grabbed the surprised and slightly stuttering boy and ran out of the room with Hunk trailing behind him

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance flew Blue out of her hangar. Hunk was behind him clutching on to whatever he could grasp looking slightly green. “I swear Hunk if you puke in blue she’s not going to be happy” to land his point Blue gave a warning growl, to which Lance chuckled. “yeah, you tell him girl”. 

He could hear Shiro grumbling about something not being fair on the coms and laughed at their leaders swift change from the enthusiastic energy he had earlier.

“So this serum thing Allura wants us to get won’t actually hurt us right?” Hunk asked while Lance guided Blue towards the coordinates Coran had sent to the lions.

Lance considered the devious smirk Allura had when telling them about the serum, but decided not to mention it when he saw Hunk’s face scrunch in worry.

“Of course not buddy, she’d never intentionally hurt us” Lance smiled reassuringly 

‘Accidentally on the other hand...’ he added in his head

“Yeah you’re probably right” sighed Hunk 

“Always am”

Hunk snorted

“Hey buddy, I may have spaced out a bit while Allura was talking. Whadya know about this mission?” 

Hunk grinned “staring at Keith’s butt were we?” Lance suddenly regretted ever telling his best friend about his dumb crush.

“I wasn’t staring at his butt! It’s not my fault he’s so damn perfect” Lance pouted, it was completely Keith’s fault for being adorable!

Hunk laughed, he held up his hands in mock surrender but then seemed to immediately regret the decision as Blue lurched forward. “don’t go all pouty on me, I’m just kidding. Anyway, all I know is the Mothuca are super technologically advanced but refuse to use the technology to make weapons because they’re pacifists. That’s why they need Voltron’s protection. They’re also notoriously very beautiful creatures” Hunk finished summarizing Allura’s speech 

“beautiful huh? I guess I don’t mind going then” Lance smirked

Hunk let out a long-suffering sigh “They’re the most technologically advanced species in this quadrant but of course that’s what you latch onto” 

“Hey!” Lance laughed “be careful buddy I could just eject you into space, couldn’t I Blue?” Blue growled in agreement

Hunk laughed, rolling his eyes 

“Na, you love me too much”

“You’re right, it is my self-inflicted curse”  
Lance sighed dramatically and pretended to wipe away a tear

Hunk shifted positions where he was standing behind Lance.

“Not as much as you love Keith’s ass, though” he muttered, but Lance heard every word. He proceeded to choke on air.

“Oh hey Lance! It’s Mothucan”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be in Keith’s pov


	2. Keith’s poor gay heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is in Keith’s pov, I hope you enjoy his grumpy pining

The trip to Mothucan was a nightmare.

Lance had grabbed Hunk and sprinted as soon as he had heard Allura mention sharing the lions. In Keith’s opinion that was a pretty smart decision. Not that he’d ever tell him that.

That left him to fly with Shiro and Pidge.

Shiro had suggested that they take the black lion as it was the biggest. They had all agreed, but Keith was starting to have second thoughts. At least flying would have given him something to do. Now he was just sitting against a wall staring at nothing.

On top of that, Pidge wouldn’t stop makes suggestions on ways Shiro could improve his lion. Shiro was trying desperately to tell Pidge, in the politest way possible, to be quiet so he could concentrate, but they didnt seem to hear him at all and continued to talk.

He was pretty miserable, but he couldn’t help but laugh at Shiro’s face of exasperation.

He sat with his arms crossed and his back slumped against the wall. He was desperately trying not to think about what had put him in a particularly shitty mood, or rather, who. It was obviously because Keith hated diplomatic missions.

Obviously.

It wasn’t like he wished he was in the blue lion with Lance or anything. 

Obviously.

Keith sighed and slumped further down the wall.

“Shiro, are we almost at this planet, or what?” He asked, mostly to distract himself.

“It’ll probably be about another twenty five dobashes, so get comfy”

Keith groaned.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The black lion had finally entered the atmosphere of Mothucan.

He got up and walked towards the pilots seat. They had a clear view of Mothucan. The planet was a pale blue and half of it was covered in deep blue liquid.

If those ocean things were safe Lance was going to be over the moon. Keith thought, smiling slightly.

Pidge and Keith stared out at the city while Shiro lowered Black onto the designated landing space. The landing area looked like it had been just recently finished. Some sort of scaffolding still remained around the sides.

They stepped out of Black’s jaws and onto the raised plateau. Where two mothuca were waiting for them. When they saw the paladins they smiled brightly.

Keith remembered Allura had described them as being very beautiful. He could definitely see where she was coming from. They were tall, thin and lithe. They had pale shimmering eyes and dark skin.

‘Lance is going to have a field-day’ Keith thought bitterly. He tried to ignore the bubble of jealousy that was rising in his stomach.

“My name is Armira, I am the head of inter-planet diplomacy here on Mothucan. My colleague is Zeb the leading expert in technological advancements and engineering in the capital.” Zeb bowed low to the ground “how do you do paladins?”

Shiro nodded “Thank you for welcoming us to your wonderful planet” he was about to continue when Pidge piped up.

“Allura said that you were the most technologically advanced planet in the quadrant, is that true?”

“Pidge!” Shiro scolded.

Zeb cut in before Shiro could continue. He waved his hands as if in an attempt to deescalate the situation 

“Do not fret, we are not offended! We are honored the green paladin is interested in our planets achievements. I could tell you of some of our inventions if you’d like”

Pidge’s eyes lit up 

“I heard that where you are from you don’t have appearance enhancers and actually pierce holes in your skin to flaunt your decoration. Is that true?

Pidge and Zeb talked animatedly about human decorating rituals and technology.

Shiro chuckled at Pidge’s excitement and turned to talk to Armira, just as the blue lion landed.

The noise alerted the group and they turned to watch as the blue lion lowered her head and Lance came sauntering out with Hunk trailing slightly behind him.

Keith had prepared a snarky comment about Lance getting lost when he strode up to Keith and hooked his arm around his shoulders.

“What’d I miss?” He asked smugly, his signature shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

Keith was panicking.

Keith was very much panicking.

Lance had his arm around Keith’s very gay, very panicked shoulders.

He could feel his face burning as Lance’s breath tickled the back of his shoulders.

Oh god now he was thinking about how soft Lance’s lips would be kissing his neck, his breath tickling his ear as he whispered into it...

He ducked his head and prayed his bangs covered his very pink cheeks 

“uhhh” Keith responded.

Yes, well done Keith. Stun him with your excellent vocabulary.

Lance quirked an eyebrow at him. Oh god he was adorable when he did that.

And because Keith’s poor gay heart doesn’t know how to handle his emotions, He shrugged Lance’s arm from his shoulders and grumbled

“Personal space much..” and crossed his arms, avoiding eye contact.

Lance stares at him looking slightly bewildered.

Way to go Keith.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is a poor gay boi and his poor touch-starved heart can’t handle Lance’s affection


	3. You’re an ass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am motivation

Whatever Lance was expecting, it wasn’t that.

He was expecting Keith to push him off sure, but he thought it would be followed with insults or shouting or a fucking punch in the face. 

No. Keith had looked flustered.

Flustered!

Keith goddamn Kogane had blushed and bent his head and mumbled! And it was adorable. 

What had Lance done to deserve this?

Lance was still processing all of this information in his head when he heard Shiro speak up.

“Lance, Hunk! This is Armira and Zeb. Zeb and Pidge are already getting along quite well” he chuckled and turned to Armira.

They nodded and focused their gaze on Hunk and Lance. They had very pretty light yellow eyes that reflected the pink light from Mothucan’s star beautifully, he was already forming a pick-up line in his head.

Good. Go back to being normal. You didn’t just have a mental breakdown over Keith 

“Yellow paladin, Blue paladin welcome to our home. My name is Armira and my colleague and I will be your guides for today.” 

“Well hello there Armira,” Lance grinned “ y’know sometimes I miss the golden light of our sun on earth but I just have to look into your eyes and they’re brighter than any sun” Lance winked at the confused looking alien.

Armira frowned.

“I am flattered blue paladin but it is clearly not my eyes you wish to gaze into” 

Lance’s grin wavered slightly. “Sorry, beautiful?”

“Well apart from our technological advancements we Mothuca have a very deep understanding of ourselves and all living creatures. We completely understand our emotions and our feelings. In short, we can read people very well. And you are clearly deeply in love with..” Armira faltered, their eyes momentarily flitting to a space behind Lance “..somebody else”

Lance’s face fell. He stood stock-still.

Keith snorted.

“We’ll be sure to tell the princess when we get back, but can you get on with the whole guiding thing?”

Armira smiled apologetically, “of course red paladin”

They looked over at Zeb and Pidge and smiled fondly

“Though I am afraid it will most likely end up being solely me that guides you as Zeb seems to be quite occupied talking to your green paladin. Shall we begin?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance trudged beside Keith. He had been avoiding eye contact with Lance all day, but Lance couldn’t help but stare at him. His eyes shone in the pink light and his skin practically glowed.

“-and that’s the market, you will find what you are looking for in there. In Mothucani markets the colours that are flown above or embossed on the stalls represent what type of wares they sell. For example, red is food, like restaurants, Blue is clothing and so on.”

Lance sighed. He’d have to admire Keith later. Now, they had a mission.

Armira pointed to a small store with golden drapes half obscuring the entrance.

“You will be looking for the color gold, as that means potions, serums and remedies. While you will most likely find it there, if it is very rare, you may find it under the color purple. Purple is oddities and random trinkets from across the galaxy” 

Armira stopped weaving their way through the crowds in the city and turned to face the paladins.

“I take my leave of you here paladins, I have other duties to attend to. I wish all of you well and hope you take the time to enjoy our beautiful city”

Shiro nodded.

“Thank you for your help in finding this serum. Princess Allura thinks it’ll really help us bond as a team.”

They bowed gracefully and turned to leave when Pidge asked:

“Zeb doesn’t have to go yet does he?” Pidge looked balefully at Armira “some of his ideas might make living in the castle more comfortable”

Armira laughed lightly, their eyes shining.

“If it’s ok with your leader you and Zeb may stay behind and continue to discuss your ideas. Zeb seems to be thoroughly enjoying having a like-minded individual to share with”

“I am, Armira! Human culture is truly baffling! Did you know they put themselves in danger on high speed rides for fun?” Zeb waved his hands around eagerly.

Shiro seemed to consider it for a moment before addressing Pidge

“Ok Pidge, meet us back at the lions in one Varga. Lance, Hunk, Keith and I will get the serum and meet you there. Be careful”

Pidge whooped and ran over to sit beside Zeb who had found a nearby bench and was shading his eyes from the star light with his hand.

“Well, now that that’s settled why don’t we go over the details of the mission. So it’s a light green syrup that has shocks of silver running through it. Allura said we can’t miss it. Since there’s two places it could be, why don’t we split into teams? I can go wi-“

“DIBS ON HUNK” Lance lunged forward to grab Hunk’s arm but he was pulled out of the way before he could reach.

“Oh no you don’t! Not again! I’M going with Hunk. You’re with Keith”

By the time Lance had thought to protest, Shiro was dragging a stuttering Hunk in the opposite direction.

“We’ll take the gold store you can get the purple!, THINK OF THIS AS A BONDING MOMENT!” He shouted over his shoulder.

He was trapped with Keith, who was for whatever reason acting uncharacteristically adorable.

Great. Just great.

“Maybe you’ll actually remember this one” muttered Keith

“What’d you say Mullet?” 

(Yeah that’s the way to his heart Lance, call him names)

“You’re an ass”

“That is a compliment, my ass is beautiful”

“you’re telling me” Keith mumbled 

”Huh?” 

“Huh?”


	4. bOnDiNg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry I didn’t have the energy to update this for a while because my motivation comes in random spurts! I will be updating this as frequently as I can from now on though, if you’re actually reading it ;)

“Ok...? Whatever,” Lance looked at Keith like a confused puppy.

“C’mon then mullet let’s find this serum-thingy and get the heck outta here”

Keith huffed and ran after Lance who had started to stride away in the opposite direction.

The market was busy, people bustled between the stalls and stores. All of them beautiful and dark-skinned.

Keith eventually caught up to Lance. He was standing outside of a store with purple tinsel-like decorations draped around the entrance.

“Guess we try in here” Lance said, nodding at the store

“Yeah, I guess”

Lance looked at him and his breath caught in his throat. The Mothuca may have had beautiful light eyes, but Lance’s were way beyond beautiful. They were dark and mysterious and stormy. They drew you in and you got lost. Keith loved them.

Keith looked at him with a dazed expression and Lance grew increasingly worried.

“Hey man, are you ok? Earlier you seemed even more distant than usual. I know diplomatic missions aren’t really your thing but..”

The genuine concern in Lance’s voice made Keith’s heart melt.

Lance looked down at the ground with his brow furrowed. Keith was probably going to kill him for asking.

‘Oh my god his little eyebrow furrow ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod.... sweet Jesus you’re a mess Keith.’

Keith realized he hadn’t said anything for a while and was probably worrying Lance more.

“I’m ok Lance, as you said, diplomatic meetings just aren’t my thing”

He put on what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Thankfully, Lance smiled back. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

“Whatever you say Mullet, now lets get this show on the road”

He turned and marched into the store

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The air inside was dry and suffocating, the incense hung in the air around them.

Keith had entered to find Lance fidgeting with one of the many instruments and bottles that lined the tables. There were shelves stacked with papers and various alien objects. He might have even caught sight of a telescope from earth, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Lance. What are you doing? Stop that.”

“Don’t wanna”

“Lance!”

Lance sighed but stopped messing with the dials of the thing. He turned to Keith with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

“Fine. What are we doing then?”

Keith was suddenly very aware of how he had to crane his head slightly to meet Lance’s eyes.

“Uhhh.. let’s find a shopkeeper to help us?”

Keith looked back at Lance, who seemed to take to the suggestion.

“Yeah is there’s gotta be somebody around here”

As if by magic. A head appeared around the corner of the door built into the back wall of the store.

“Good afternoon sirs, what can I do for you?”

The Mothuca had dark shiny green hair and brown skin that complemented their light green eyes. They were beautiful.

“Well hello handsome” Lance grinned and leaned his elbow on the table beside him with his chin in his palm “I think I have a problem that you can help me with”

“And what might that be?”

The Mothuca looked down at Lance expectantly.

“The problem in my pant-“

“Look, we just need some sort of serum. It’s green, with silver shit in it and it’s supposed to make us more open to each other or some bullshit”

Keith cut him off before he could finish.

Lance flicked Keith’s forehead.

“Getting antsy mullet?”

Keith glared at Lance furiously.

“I just want to get out of here as soon as possible”

Keith’s face looked like a storm cloud and Lance turned to the Mothuca who was staring at them both silently.

The Mothuca turned and ambled up to a shelf that was precariously attached to the right wall of the shop.  
They shifted around some of the many vials and bottled collected on the shelf.

“My name is Olland, my family have owned this store for decaphoebs”

They seemed to come across whet they were looking for and reached to pull it out.

“I believe you’re looking for serum vatarei, it is quite rare and comes from a plant exclusively found in the plemium belt.”

They held aloft a small, triangular, green bottle. Shocks of silver ran through the syrupy contents just as Shiro had described.

“This is enough to suffice for what your princess wishes to achieve”

“How did you know about the princess?” Lance asked. Catching the oddity before Keith did.

“Oh I know about quite a lot of things Blue paladin.”

Olland’s eyes flashed with a dangerous mischief that wasn’t unlike Pidge.

Keith spoke up before Lance could think of a response.

“Alright great. How much do you want?”

Olland turned to Keith. A slightly unsettling smile on their face

“Oh don’t worry paladins. You can have this free of charge. I only ask that afterwards you come back and update me on any changes that may have occurred. Especially with you two. It seems like quite a fascinating experiment really. You’re princess must have a few sadistic tendencies in her.”

Keith and Lance glanced at each other.

What was Allura going to do them?


	5. The gang get together again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry this took so long >~<

Leaving the store and finally breathing fresh air was a relief.

Lance didn’t like small spaces much, and the store had felt very claustrophobic.

Keith had taken the vial of serum from Olland and put it in the satchel he was carrying. He still looked a bit skittish and awkward standing beside Lance. He played with the buckle attached to the strap of his satchel and kept his eyes locked on the floor.

He didn’t look like he was going to say anything anytime soon unless he was forced to and Lance didn’t like silence, so he did what he does best and filled it.

“Well, thanks I guess, but could you tell us what that shit does exactly..?”

He folded his arms and leaned his weight on one of his legs. He didn’t exactly expect Olland to explain because of how vague they had been about their knowledge of Allura’s plan, but he wanted to get any information he could get on the shit Allura was going to make them.. eat..? Put on their skin? He had no idea, and he was mildly terrified.

As expected his question was met with an unsettling smile and Olland alluding vaguely to something that Keith and Lance didn’t get.

“It will bring you together by making you more.. transparent to each other.”

Keith rolled his eyes and Lance couldn’t help but feel the same way.

“Right.. well we gotta go meet the others at the lions now. It was, uh, nice to meet...you?”

Olland bowed slightly and waved them out of the store.

“The pleasure was all mine paladins, kindly do not forget about our agreement! If anything changes between you two I must know!”

“Sure, see you then I guess”

Keith and Lance retraced their steps back through the bustling market.

“What a weirdo” Keith grumbled.

Lance looked over at him just as he got slightly shoved by a tall Mothuca who looked like they were in a hurry. Keith seemed to fall in slow motion so Lance reacted as fast as he could. He grabbed Keith’s wrist just as he was about to slam into the ground.

He was dragged upright again and Keith... looked like he was going to stab someone. 

He turned to where the Mothuca who knocked him over was long gone and shouted.

“WELL FUCK YOU TOO, YOU ASSHOLE!”

Mothuca in the street and at stalls turned to stare at the tiny angry person shouting at the top of their lungs in curiosity and disapproval.

Keith stormed off towards the landing platform where the lions were and Lance tried to cover his laughter with his hand as he raced after him.

Pushing through the Mothuca was a lot easier when Keith had shoved a path though them already. He caught up to him and walked regularly beside Keith’s Swift, angry pace. His face looked like a storm-cloud.

“Heyyy Keith? Buddy? Are you goo-“

“I just fucking hate PEOPLE! Like why is there so many and they’re all crowded on top of each other.. and I just can’t deal with it!”

Keith looked quite upset and like he was on the verge of tears instead of angry at this point and Lance was taken aback.

Was Keith claustrophobic like Lance was..? Or did he just not like crowds?

He grabbed Keith’s wrist for the second time in the last ten minutes. God, how did that happen? They stopped in the street while the Mothuca continued to mill around them. Keith turned to him angrily.

Lance dragged Keith to a small alcove he had seen between two stalls that wasn’t as busy as the main road.

“Ok, so you’re clearly freaking the fuck out so we’re gonna stay here for a minute and calm down, okay?” 

“I’m not-“ 

Lance interrupted him before he could finish. “Dude, don’t even try and say you weren’t freaking out because I thought you were gonna burst into tears!” Keith narrowed his eyes at that ”I was worried! So please, just like, rest here for a bit.”

Keith sighed and turned to stare at the crowd of Mothuca in the Main Street they had just left.

After a few minutes Keith looked up at Lance. ‘God, his eyes are so big and so.. fucking purple’

“Hey, um thanks for, y’know catching me back there, and..for...this?”

He smiled a little. It was shy and awkward and he didn’t make eye-contact, but it only made Lance adore him even more. 

When had his feelings for his so-called rival turned to adoration?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Keith and Lance got back to the lions, Shiro, Hunk and Pidge were already there.

“Where have you been? We said a varga!” Shiro berated them for another five dobashes about respecting their communication and how he had thought they’d died.

Lance laughed at Shiro’s worried babbling and explained.

“We just got kind of caught up and didn’t notice the time pass. We’re perfectly fine Shiro, don’t worry!”

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Pidge raise their eyebrow at what he had said but they didn’t say anything. Thank god.

Keith still hadnt said much but he looked a lot less stressed than he had looked before. Lance thought proudly.

“It sucks that we couldn’t find the serum but at least we established an ally with the Mothuca!” Hunk beamed.

“Actually...” 

Keith rooted around in his satchel and pulled out the small green vial.

Shiro and Hunk both looked surprised and Pidge looked closely at the bottle Keith was holding up. 

“Huh, it’s kinda small. You think it’ll be enough for all of us?”

“Don’t worry Pidge, I’m sure it’ll be fine. AND I’m proud of you two for managing to find it” Shiro directed his praise at Keith and Lance.

“Whatever”

“No problem space-dad, anytime you need to find a magical syrup thingy I’m your man” Lance winked and finger-gunned.

Keith smirked and Hunk and Pidge both laughed. Shiro looked slightly annoyed.

“Why do you all insist on calling me that?” He sighed exasperatedly.

Pidge had climbed onto Hunk’s shoulders while Shiro was talking.

“Because your our space father-figure and you definitely have dad vibes” They explained. “It’s just logical that space-dad is what we call you”

Hunk nodded in agreement while shifting to balance Pidge more comfortably onto his back.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself, my enby friend” Lance bowed to Pidge’s explaining skills.

Pidge bent slightly at the waist back, in mock courtesy. “Why thank you”

Shiro rolled his eyes. “Alright you two can stop now. I get it. Let’s get going”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	6. Actual bonding

“Yes! Onwards” Pidge pointed towards the black lion, “our food goo awaits”

Hunk chuckled and started walking in the direction they were pointing. Pidge started to explain to him the improvements to the castle that Zeb had suggested.

Shiro turned from where he was watching Pidge and Hunk to face Keith and Lance.

“You guys did good! Now just try not to kill each other on the way back” He winked and turned to follow Pidge and Hunk.

‘Wait...what?’ Keith looked to Lance, confused for a second. Lance had a similar look on his face.

It took Keith a minute to process.

He gritted his teeth. Lance’s face broke out into a grin and he wiggled his eyebrows at Keith. 

This was going to be hell.

“Guess you’re stuck with me Mullet” Lance fluttered his eyelashes.

Keith was going to punch him in the face. 

“I guess so, now come on I want to be back as soon as possible” Keith turned and stormed towards Blue with Lance running after him and yelling.

“You can’t wait to get me alone, can you Mullet?”

“Shut the fuck up”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance was seated in the pilots chair of Blue, he was guiding her off the planet, muttering soft praises as he did.

Maybe this wasn’t going to be that bad after all. Keith thought. He continued to stare at Lance’s muscular shoulders and back.

“There’s always some turbulence when exiting atmospheres so I’d suggest holding on” Lance didn’t turn around as he said it, but Keith was grateful for the advice all the same as Blue suddenly jolted. He quickly reached for one of the handholds built into the lion’s back to steady himself.

“Told ya”

They were both silent as Lance flew Blue through the rocky turbulence.

“And that should be good for now” Lance set Blue’s course for the castle of lions and switched to auto pilot. He turned around in his chair to face Keith.

Oh no, was Lance expecting him to start a conversation? About what? Maybe he should tell him he’s not usually some sort of crazy person that shouts at random people in the street-

“Are you gonna tell me what happened back in the market?” Lance raised his eyebrow expectantly.

Keith wasn’t prepared for that. What was he going to say, that he had a fear of people? Of crowds? He had heard of people like that before but he still thought it was weird. Who panicked when they had people around them? Ugh.

Lance must have noticed Keith scowling because he immediately tried to backpedal. Where he could have previously been perceived as suave, he now looked nervous and was scratching the back of his neck.

“I mean! You don’t have to, only if you want to y’know? Please don’t kill me!” 

Keith was surprised for a moment. Was Lance...scared of offending him? That was hilarious! And kind of sweet if he was being honest.

He chuckled quietly, the entire situation was hilarious. Lance was scared of offending him and he was afraid of saying the wrong thing to Lance.

He caught the questioning look Lance was sending him. He looked like a confused puppy. His brain added weakly that he looked adorable.

He smirked and folded his arms over each other.

“Are you scared of me Lance? Aw that’s cute”

Lance’s face turned to shock and then to indignance. He spluttered out defenses. 

“I’m not..! How could I be, don’t you dare think that- shut up Mullet!”

Lance continued to fume with his fists balled at his sides while Keith almost fell over laughing.

He was wiping away tears when Lance suddenly stood up and marched over to Keith.

He grabbed Keith’s raised arm and leaned down to whisper in his ear.

“I’m not scared of you, Mullet. Now be good and tell me what you were going to say”

Keith stared up at him in awe and slight intimidation. Lance was so close. He could just...

Lance let go of a furiously blushing Keith’s arm, walked back over and sat in his chair. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees in anticipation.

Meanwhile, Keith was having a breakdown. Lance had just grabbed his arm, and whispered in his ear. It was like all of his fantasies come to life. 

He was a blushing mess but he had to pull himself together somehow.

“Right o-okay, um yeah, so I have, like, a fear of lots of people and crowds and whatever” he looked down at the floor in an attempt to hide his pink cheeks. “I know it’s kinda weird but it just affects me badly, like in the market, sometimes”

“It’s not weird” he looked up at the sincerity in Lance’s voice “It’s not weird at all. I just hope you know that whenever you feel like that you can always tell me and I’ll try my best to get you the fuck out of that situation” 

Lance smiled and Keith’s heart fluttered in his chest. 

“I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me that, because we’re a team Keith. We have to stick together”

“Yeah I know” Keith internally cursed himself as his voice broke.

Lance turned around to look at Blue’s screen.

“We’ll be there in a bit so prepare yourself for this shitstorm”

Keith wiped his eyes and walked up to stand behind Lance’s chair.

“Can’t wait”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	7. Ooooh the anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow he’s so zoom. Updating all the time. He’s absolutely got his life together

Holy shit.

‘What the fuck was he thinking? Sure, they were on better terms than when they first met, but he could be a lot, he knew that! He didn’t want to scare Keith away. So what the fuck possessed him to just grab him like that?’

He grabbed his face and groaned.

‘But Keith had blushed? Why did he blush?’

Scenarios of what Keith could have been thinking ran through Lance’s head, they made his face burn.

‘Maybe he was just embarrassed that Lance had managed to grab him?’ Lance smirked. ‘It was always nice to get one up on Keith. He usually had really fast reflexes.’

He laughed. ‘His face had turned so red. He looked so... cute’

Lance let his head drop to Blue’s control pad. ‘Ugh why was life so exhausting? He was supposed to be rivals with Keith, not have a crush on him!’

He whacked his head on the control pad.

“Um Lance..? are you coming?”

He dragged himself out of his chair and sighed.

Keith was looking at him like he’d grown a second head.

He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way. “Yeah ok. Let’s go get this food goo, I’m starving”.

Keith raised an eyebrow but turned and left anyway. He joined up with Shiro, Hunk and Pidge. Lance watched how Hunk and Pidge immediately started bombarding Keith with questions that turned his cheeks pink again.

He put his hand on Blue’s side. “I’ll see you tomorrow Blue.” 

She purred under his hand

“Heh, that’d be nice Blue, but I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. I don’t think Keith even likes guys.”

Blue growled and then fell silent.

Lance laughed. “Oh so you’re sulking now are you?”

Blue said nothing.

“Fine then”

Lance sometimes wondered if Allura had somehow gotten mixed up and that Blue was supposed to be the difficult one instead of Red

Lance’s relationship with Keith wasn’t perfect. They still fought over everything, and Keith could be the most STUBBORN person Lance had ever met, but Lance really was head over heels for him. Stubbornness and all; and Blue knew this. She had started urging him to talk to Keith and giving him suggestions on how to get him alone. It wasn’t ideal when your giant robot cat started giving you dating tips in the middle of a training exercise. 

Lance had sensed how excited Blue was when Keith had opened up to him a little. (Even if he’d basically forced it out of him.) It wouldn’t go anywhere farther than friendship, but they were getting somewhere.

He’d have to remind Blue not to get her hopes up. Keith would probably go back to being cold and distant tomorrow

He walked out of the hangar and towards the door to the dining area where the rest of his team were already.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Allura was standing at the head of the table gesturing wildly, she was clearly very excited. She was directing her excitement at Shiro, who was listening politely.

Lance took the only empty seat at the table, across from Shiro and beside Keith. Keith was slumped in his chair while Hunk was trying to talk to him about their experiences on Mothucan.

“It’s going to be such a good bonding experience for all of you! Oh I’m so excited! Now I have t-“

Shiro cut in. He somehow sounded both apologetic but firm? How’d he do that?

“Princess maybe it would be a good idea if the team ate something first?”

She faltered a little bit but nodded.

Coran spoke up from beside Allura “Shiro is right princess! Serum vatarei is known to be very hard on the stomach! so eating would be good for the paladins. We don’t want any of you collapsing now do we?” 

Coran beamed around at the paladins. 

“Yes, alright then. Coran please bring the paladin’s meal.”

“Right away princess!” Coran saluted, (Which Lance thought was a bit excessive) and strode out of the dining area door to the kitchen.

“Ah Lance” Allura directed her attention to Lance, “glad you could join us” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. 

Pidge snickered behind their hand.

“Sorry about that. Just had to make some adjustments to Blue’s control” He shot her a grin. She looked unconvinced. He quickly tried to rectify the situation.

“Hey Princess could you tell us something about the serum?”

Pidge perked their ears at that. “Yeah! we still don’t know what this shit-“

“Language!” Shiro snapped.

“-stuff does and I don’t want to grow an extra pair of arms or something. Though, that would make me type a lot faster” They looked like they were thinking about it.

Hunk stopped his pitiful attempts at conversation with Keith. “The anticipation is making me feel weird. Like I want to puke but can’t”

He did look a little green.

‘Oh shit, if he didn’t distract Hunk he might actually get sick from anxiety’

“Hey buddy if you’re gonna puke aim at Keith, not me!” 

He needed to balance out the sappy ‘we’re a team’ stuff somehow. Keith shot him a dirty look.

Allura put her hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “The serum’s effects don’t last forever and don’t have any effect on your anatomy as Pidge suggested.” 

Shiro sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Good, I don’t think I would want to deal with that”

“That is all I will tell you until after your food.”

“But-“

“I said that I will not say any more. Now I don’t want to hear another word about it until after your dinner.” Allura snapped

The table was silent until Coran came bustling back into the kitchen. Two trays in his hand.

“Oh this looks great! Coran. I thought I was gonna starve”  
Coran smiled at Hunk as he tucked into his food.

Guess the nausea was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> You got to the end, thanks ig. Please tell me what you think


End file.
